My journey to Budapest, Hungary began in my office back in November 2017, when I had the privilege to meet Károly Jókay, who was serving as the Executive Director of the Fulbright Program in Budapest. He was visiting the University of Arkansas during a trip to the United States. It was only my fifth month working at the university, but I quickly came to understand that visiting campus was often a “must do” for those who manage the Fulbright program or who are in the U.S. as “Fulbrighters,” as they call themselves. During our conversation, Károly invited me to speak to his fellow directors at their annual meeting in April. He wanted to encourage the commissioners to consider donating their records to our Special Collections department. Our current collections include a number of records that document the history and legacy of Senator Fulbright and the Fulbright Program. However, people working and studying abroad in the U.S. primarily created those records, and so they do not tell the story of the program from a non-U.S. perspective. In order for researchers to be able to fully understand and analyze the program, records created from a variety of nationalities and viewpoints would be needed. My talk will both encourage the commissioners to donate their records, and explain the process for donating. Thanks to Károly’s generosity and that of the International Studies Program at the university, I arrived in Budapest the week of the Fulbright Executive Directors meeting.
One of the first things you notice when spending time in Budapest is the friendliness of those who live there. People are genuinely excited you’ve chosen to visit their city, and they’re excited for you explore all the city has to offer. Two members of Károly’s staff scheduled tours of local archives and libraries for me before the conference started. As the saying goes, I was like a kid in a candy shop during these visits!
My week began with a tour of the national archives. I met with their director and one of his colleagues. As you can see from the pictures here, you enter the building through beautifully decorated wooden doors. Your eyes immediately go up toward the ceiling once you’re inside to take in the incredibly ornate wall paintings and designs. The building is four stories, with visible doors to their collections storage areas on each floor. During my tour of the building, I saw the room where researchers do their work. On a cloudy Monday morning, there were 12 researchers working away on various projects.
After lunch, I visited with the director of the national library (the U.S. equivalent to the Library of Congress) and one of his colleagues. Over 80,000 of their books are available for browsing; however, like all special collections, their materials can only be used in the library.
There are a number of rooms throughout the library where students and their professors from the Central European University come to do their research. Each room is dedicated to a different subject—literature, history, science, etc. During my tour, they showed me their book retrieval system, which you can see here.
Their building used to be part of the royal palace, and throughout the hallways there are black and white photographs of how the palace used to look. The tour guide shared with me how those images are in stark contrast to the gray marble and dark furniture throughout the library now.
During my conversation with both directors, I became struck by the similarities between their work half a world a way from the University of Arkansas, and the challenges my team and I grapple with. These challenges include:
- Providing access to our materials by digitizing collections. Over 10 million documents can be used through the national archives’ website. At the University, we too have an active digitization program in partnership with the Digital Services Unit to make more items from our collections available online.
- Protecting the privacy and security of what’s in our archives, while making sure researchers can access and use our records. In January 2018, the European Union passed legislation changing its data security regulations. In the US we have archival standards that guide us as we determine how best to provide access to the content of our records. It’s our intention to provide access to as much unrestricted material as possible.
- The impact of a challenging budget environment also came up in our conversation. Across our profession, special collections, archives, and libraries find themselves without the funds they need to satisfy their missions. At the University of Arkansas, we’re fortunate to have support from our faculty, students, and alumni, which helps to enable us to do our work.
- Needed updates to spaces and facilities. At the national archives, they’re running out of space for their collections and would like to improve their use of technology, which is limited by the network infrastructure. At the national library, they’re putting on more public events than they used to, and would like to enhance several of their spaces for that purpose. Back in Fayetteville, we’re in the planning stages for the revitalization of Mullins Library. On our wish list is a dedicated classroom to better serve the over 900 students we see each year, and a gallery space to better showcase our collections through exhibition and digital displays to encourage even more users- than the 2,000 we worked with last year- to come and use our collections.
My first day in Budapest ended with a walk along the Danube at sunset. That day was Holocaust Remembrance Day, and I participated in a moving candle lighting ceremony at the Shoes on the Danube to remember the victims of the Holocaust. Participating in a local event while traveling abroad is a humbling experience, and one I’m likely to remember for many years to come.
More adventure to come!